William Guest, a member of longtime soul music group Gladys Knight & The Pips, succumbed to congestive heart failure on Dec. 24 in Detroit, Michigan, his sister-in-law Dhyana Ziegler told the Associated Press. He was 74 years old.
“My heart is broken, but I know his legacy will live on,” his daughter, Monique Guest, said in a statement.
Guest was a member of the group since its start in 1953 and until it disbanded in 1989. The singer provided backup vocals for hit songs such as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.”
Other than Guest, who was lead singer Gladys Knight’s cousin, the group also included her brother Merald “Bubba” Knight and her cousin Edward Patten. Over the years, they scored several Grammy awards and landed in both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
Following the group’s breakup, Guest and Patten founded a production company. He then became CEO of Crew Records. In 2013, Guest and Ziegler released his autobiography, Midnight Train FROM Georgia: A Pip’s Journey.
“We talk[ed], laugh[ed, [sang] and dance[d],” he wrote of his talented family. “As the saying goes, ‘the family that plays together, stays together.’”
Ziegler posted a touching message about Guest to Twitter, accompanied with a photo of her beloved brother-in-law.
